The invention disclosed herein pertains to a conveyor system for conveying containers such as bottles, especially light-weight, unstable plastic bottles, to a bottle treating device such as a washing machine.
A conveyor system for similar purposes is described in German Patent DE-PS 1 183 428. In the patented system, containers are conveyed in rows with each container on an individual belt such that at a certain point in the travel of the containers, they can be picked up or transferred to a washing machine, for example. Closed loop flexible members such as cables or roller chains run parallel to the belts so that there is a chain running on each side of a bottle standing on any one of the belts. Containers, especially plastic bottles, must be supported in a stable manner while the belts are transporting them. In the patented system, the bottles are stabilized by a moving rod that extends over the full width of the path of travel of all container rows. The chain loops which run in the direction of the belts can be set at the desired height of the containers, for instance, at the height of the center of gravity, so that containers, even those with poor stability such as bottles made of plastic can be held upright. A highly disadvantage feature of the existing conveyor system is, however, the requirement for a substantial amount of height above the upwardly and downwardly moveable stabilizer rods.
Besides, in the patented system, the carriers or stabilizers can be folded up only when the containers at the head of the container row are contacted by the grippers of a container handling machine such as container packing machine or washing machine. The length of the conveyor system in the region where the rows are transferred, one by one, must be quite long. The members that move to guide the stabilizer rods down can change the position of the containers on the belts and disturb the container movement.
In another system described in German laid open patent DE-OS 37 02 954 several continuous drawing means or chain loops run in parallel vertical planes located completely under the path of travel of several container rows. Attached to the drawing means or chains are stabilizing members which have the shape of cams. The cams are in the plane of travel and at a right angle relative to the direction of travel. The cams rise up slightly between conveyor belts that transport the containers and contact the containers at their lower ends. This system has the merit of being compact, but it is only appropriate for containers which are more massive and, hence, more stable than light-weight plastic bottles.